Guwahati: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in Imphal, the police Friday recovered a grenade and a bomb from separate places in Manipur.
The recovery of the explosives happened on the same day as the Coordination Committee (CorCom), a front of Manipur armed groups, called a complete shutdown of Manipur to boycott Mr Modi’s rally.
The police said that a Chinese-made grenade was found near the gate of BJP candidate Soibam Subhachandra’s house in Imphal West district, 9 km from the rally venue.
Another bomb was found in front of BJP worker O Sunil’s house in Thoubal district, 40 km from the rally venue.
The CorCom, comprising four outfits — the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) and Prepak (Progressive) — had been maintaining a silence over the Manipur elections. But soon after Mr Modi’s visit was announced, the umbrella group called for a complete shutdown in the state.
The outfits, operating from Myanmar, were also conspicuous by their silence on the economic blockade called by the United Naga Council since November 2016. Mr Modi is scheduled to address the rally at Langjing Achouba Ground in Imphal West.
Earlier, the BJP planned to host the rally inside Kangla Fort in Imphal, but it changed the venue after Irom Sharmila Chanu’s newly floated party, People’s Resurgence and Justice Alliance, lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, arguing that Kangla is a sacred place where many religious sites are located.
The ruling Congress has also launched a campaign to counter Mr Modi’s rally over the Centre’s “treaty” with the NSCN (IM).
